by Tyler Prater, Guest Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine
LEXINGTON, KY — This upcoming week the Habs play back-to-back Friday and Saturday, both games against the Sabres, with the first game at Buffalo and the next in Montreal. The Canadiens will be coming off a four-day break after their 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers. The Habs will have a two-day break before returning to practice on Wednesday morning.
Montreal Canadiens
Sunday’s loss aside, Montreal is off to a strong start (16-6-1) and in first place in the Atlantic Division. They go into the week with a 8-2-0 record in their last 10 games and should be well-prepared for the Sabres when they meet on Friday night.
Players to watch:
Max Pacioretty. Pacioretty has had an inconsistent start to the season with 10 goals, 8 assists for 18 points with a plus-13 rating. Lately he’s doing everything right to help the Habs and has been especially hot with four goals and three assists in the last seven games. With the momentum he has, keep an eye on him to be a big contributor this weekend.
David Desharnais. So far this season Desharnais has 11 points with a plus-9 rating. Look for him to set-up offensive chances in the two games against Buffalo.
Dale Weise. Weise is playing a selfless game and has been rewarded with four goals already matching his season high.
Strengths:
The Canadiens come into the week with a strong record of 16 wins in 23 games, looking to regain momentum especially against a struggling team like Buffalo (6-13-2). Along with their great record, the Habs are also 54.6 per cent on faceoffs contributing to puck possession, a key factor to any game. Another positive factor is the Habs’ penalty kill at 84.3 per cent (9th in the NHL.)
Weaknesses:
Montreal’s power play isn’t very good at 12.7 per cent (26th in the NHL) but there should be plenty of chances to raise the percentage against the Sabres, who average 13.3 penalty minutes per game (28th.) Another area the Habs will have to focus is their shots against currently averaging 30.6 per game (19th) while only getting an average of 27.5 shots per game (27th).
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo have had a slow start to the year (6-13-2) residing in eighth place in the Atlantic Division. They will be coming off a game against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday in Buffalo.
Players to watch:
Tyler Ennis. Ennis has six goals (tied for team highest) and seven assists on the year.
Zemgus Girgensons. Girgensons also has six goals and four assists this season and coming off a great week with multi-goal games.
Drew Stafford. With eight assists on the year, Stafford has excelled as Buffalo’s set-up man.
Strengths:
The Sabres are coming off a good week, which included two wins against San Jose and Washington. In a three-game win streak the Sabres have scored 12 goals.
Weaknesses:
The Sabres have a low goals per game average, at 1.62 (30th) which is good news against the talents of Carey Price and Dustin Tokarski. The Sabres’ allow a hefty 3.29 goals against on average.
Matchup
Friday November 28 | Buffalo, NY.
Sabres 3-6-2 (home)
Canadiens 7-3-1 (away)
Saturday November 29 | Montreal, QC.
Canadiens 9-3-0 (home)
Sabres 3-7-0 (away)
Season series
November 5, 2014 MTL 2 BUF 1 SO Recap – Canadiens vs Sabres: Panic Averted with Shootout Win